This invention relates generally to online shopping, and more particularly to providing improved display and management of products.
Online shopping doesn't convert shoppers to customers as well as other forms of direct marketing. Currently e-commerce is designed primarily to get shopping done quickly but it isn't as engaging, entertaining or as pretty as a good catalog, or retail shopping experience.
Current shopping carts found on e-commerce sites are not really part of the shopping experience and instead are the checkout at the end of the shopping experience. Another problem is that in e-commerce the checkout images are too small to see what is in the cart easily without having to click to the item's detail page and back. It isn't easy to change colors or sizes without going back to the item's detail page. Current carts also don't allow customers to see how items would look together and may make it difficult to select coordinating items. For clothing in particular, this makes it difficult to select a coordinated outfit, particularly choosing items from more than one retailer.
Online shopping doesn't have the rich branding and visual impact of a paper catalog. So even retailers who have a selection of beautiful images can't effectively and easily show them to customers while they shop. This branding and selection of images may be crucial to translating browsing users into converted purchasers. Especially for high-end retailers, this branding may differentiate their products and the right images can increase sales significantly.
Another frustration shoppers have is that the actual online shopping experience isn't fluid and clicking back and forth between items is jarring and often difficult, particularly on a mobile device. Additionally, e-commerce is typically limited to a single retailer at a time and it is difficult to compare and combine items from different retailers while determining which items to purchase.
Mobile conversion rates are also a problem for mobile commerce and a major roadblock to expansion of the mobile market. Because of the small screen size shopping on mobile devices is difficult. Shopping on mobile devices is even harder for those with large fingers or poor coordination. The small screen size limits the size of the checkout thumbnails, which further diminishes the shopping experience and makes it harder to shop on a phone.
Altering the checkout of an e-commerce system is a difficult task and involves security risks as well as inventory management problems and potentially massive overhauls. Any solution to the previously stated problems that involved the checkout would be better received in the marketplace if it leaves the existing checkout untouched.
The figures depict various embodiments of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein.